[3.15] Spectral Shield Throw Bleed Gladiator - tanky & fast mapping - good scaling - all content

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darticus wrote:

Just a quick question.

Are the awakened variants of the support gems mandatory at all because those things are...pretty pricey and it adds up?

I'm assuming you listed awakened stuff as "end game" stuff to eventually work up to but I'm still asking if they are mandatory.

They're mandatory IF you're fighting high tier red maps and fighting end game bosses. When you're at the point that you're looking to fight A8+ Sirus, Uber Elder, Maven, etc, you will need the awakened gems, because this build is not designed to be a super amazing boss killer. The value of this build is:

A. Extremely Cheap (like, the only expensive thing is a 6L, and you don't even really need lioneye's vision 6L, but those are pretty cheap, ~1ex right now). You could even use a standard 6L instead with life/resists, and just grab mana leech on a piece of gear or jewel somewhere to save even more money
B. Very defensive. Gladiator+Block Cap+Fortify means that a huge amount of incoming damage is mitigated.
C. Solid clear speed. With bleedsplosions, the build is able to effectively clear.
D. Ridiculously Cheap - seriously, this build is one of the cheapest builds out there. Ever.

That doesn't mean you can't invest in the build to get it further - Awakened Gems, Awakener Orb crafting on weapons, ideal cluster jewels, corruptions, etc. All of that can push the build up and up. But the reality is the build just needs a shield with good armor, and its good to go. Everything else can be filled out with just standard life/resist rares for the most part. BUT - If you're looking to breeze through the highest tier content in the game, you will need to make these investments. Thats the challenge with this build, that fighting something like an A8 Sirus without awakened gems will be just hard. But you don't need to worry about that until you hit about t13 maps. Focus on better shields and getting a 6L with your investment.

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darticus wrote:

Does the weapon in hand have an effect whatsoever on the actual attack we use for this build?

Like if the weapon has more attack speed do you throw the shield out faster? Stuff like that.

Just wanna know what I should keep an eye out for while leveling early on to have weapon wise or does it really not matter and I can just use any junk rare til mid/late game?

The two standard starting weapon choices for this build are either Prismatic Eclipse with 3 green sockets, which provides 36% global attack speed, or an advancing fortress, which provides a hefty amount of block. Those two uniques are dirt cheap in trade, and are good offensive/defensive options.

Shieldwise, a good starting unique shield is Lioneye's Remorse, which is a ~1500 armor shield that is also dirt cheap.

Eventually weapon wise, the best damage options are going to be specific influenced weapons. The two weapons of note are either Warlord or Hunter weapons. Hunter weapons can roll a mod bleeds deal damage X% faster, and warlord can roll a hefty bleeding damage increase (>100% at high rolls). You can in theory combine the two together with an awakener's orb, but that's a lot of investment for damage.

The other option is, as pale1337 showed, is a weapon that has been corrupted with Resolute Technique, as that can save you a couple points on the passive tree if you're going for it.

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darticus wrote:

Does Crimson Dance not kill your dps because of the multiple bleeding stacks?

Crimson Dance is crucial to the build. Even though it reduces your bleed damage by 50%, bleeds normally only apply once. Crimson allows you to stack up to 8 times. On a moving target its still a decent damage increase, but on a stationary target its a whopping 300% more damage multipler. Its massive. This does assume you can maintain 8 stacks of bleed, so keep in mind your bleed duration and your attack speed. A big part of why unbound ailments is important to the build is because the duration makes it much easier to maintain stacks - running without unbound actually results in something like a ~4s duration of bleed, which means you have to attack 8 times in 4 seconds to keep full stacks up. If you ever have to move or dodge mechanics, this is a real problem to do.

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Gregouar wrote:

I think you are right, but I'm still not sure why the increased damage taken do not account for more dps. Maybe because it's additive with the other increased damage taken

Yep! Both Pride and Flesh+Stone Maim are heavily overrated, imo. Their aoes are tiny and people don't think about how long you have to stay in melee. And because increased damage is additive with itself, it ends up being less and less valuable. But the shocking thing is that if you spend even 1 second out of every 5 seconds out of melee range, which happens a lot more than people think, your maim (and pride, if you run it) are gone for that 1 second, meaning your bleeds don't benefit at all from the aura. So if you're between a choice that gives 10% damage 100% of the time, or something that gives 18% damage 50% of the time, the 10% wins out. And its really, really hard to maintain >50% uptime of those tiny aoe spells. If you wanted Flesh+Stone for the defensive benefits that's a separate thing, because thats a flat damage reduction. But its not great for damage on any build that isn't strict melee.

Are the Fen Weave unique gloves necessary/mandatory for the build to function? I'm legitimately asking because I got way too many buffs to keep track of with this build with Molten Shell, Vaal Molten Shell, Blood Rage, keeping Fortify up via Shield Charge, and then flasks, keeping War Banner charged and dropping it during specific times etc.

Are those gloves EXTREMELY IMPORTANT or were they just "eh these will work"? I'm assuming you put those there just for aspect of the spider, I've never used the aspect buffs so I dunno how they work or function whatsoever so I'm assuming you have to activate it constantly or is it just a skill that stays on all the time or procs off of something?

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darticus wrote:

Are those gloves EXTREMELY IMPORTANT or were they just "eh these will work"?

I activate Aspect of the Spider and the mobs get automatically spinned, quickly with 3 webs. No manual checking. 57% increased damage with ailments, hard to find something like that. Survival is okayish, so that is more of a question. I consider changing for something more tanky if I can make up for the damage lost.

EDIT:
You made me curious. And I was wrong, my first attempt was already better:


Path of Building says it is a quite boost.

Which gem quality type would you say is the best for the SST skill gem?

Loving the build I played SST when it first came out. Decided to use headhunter and just cruising through maps still need a better shield and awakened gems and I think ill be able to start bossing thanks for showing me the idea :D love the playstyle of SST

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FuriousYurious wrote:

Which gem quality type would you say is the best for the SST skill gem?

Another good idea by a fellow player:

I tried and changed from 21/23 Vanilla SST to 20/20 Anomalous SST (+20% Damage). Which is slower but more damage. I will try it for a couple of maps.

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CoalBucket wrote:

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FuriousYurious wrote:

Which gem quality type would you say is the best for the SST skill gem?

Another good idea by a fellow player:

I tried and changed from 21/23 Vanilla SST to 20/20 Anomalous SST (+20% Damage). Which is slower but more damage. I will try it for a couple of maps.

Im curious about this report back

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Pines123 wrote:

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CoalBucket wrote:

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FuriousYurious wrote:

Which gem quality type would you say is the best for the SST skill gem?

Another good idea by a fellow player:

I tried and changed from 21/23 Vanilla SST to 20/20 Anomalous SST (+20% Damage). Which is slower but more damage. I will try it for a couple of maps.

Im curious about this report back

Hmm, I ran about 20 maps (10 with 20/20 Anomalous and 10 with 21/23). All corrupted T14/T15. I must admit it is hard to feel a difference with 1.3 mio bleed dps.

I bought it cheap, so I would give it a try.

Would Anomalous Vicious Projectiles benefit this build since it adds on that extra bleed chance or is it overkill? Or does it even work?

I just got one from a heist and I'm curious if that bleed chance would be worth it to switch it out for the normal one.

Also question, which would you pick if you only had to pick one for this build:

1. Pride
2. Malevolence
3. Blasphemy + Vulnerability

I'm not sure if Pride is worth that 50% mana reserve, the only place I feel like that has a chance at helping in any real way is bosses I can stand directly next to or circle and or Rituals since I'm locked into close quarters anyway.

Malevolence seems weaker but it's turned on all the time for me and I can off screen with it in more dangerous situations.

I dunno how far Blasphemy reaches when it turns something into an aura, I'm assuming Vulnerability would be amazing for ritual though since again, I'm locked in and bosses would probably hate it.

I don't have the mana for all of them, and I don't have that special ring you suggested in the PoB that has vulnerability on hit on it.

Made this one yesterday. Now I want to roll suffixes until 5%HP/block :)